Flexible foot-rest.



J. 0. CALDWELL, JR. FLEXIBLE FOOT REST. APPLICATION iILED AUG.16, 1909.

1, 1 1 3,601 Patented 001;. 13, 1914.

UNITED STATES JOHN o. CALDWELL,iJR.1,0F"BOST01\T,.MASSACQUSETTS, tenants? JOHN O CALDWELL, $3., or Bos'ron,,massaorrnsna rsln FLEXIBLE FooT-nnsfr.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it knownthat 1, JOHN O. (inmate, J12, of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Flex ble Foot-Rests, of which the following is a specification. I v

The object of the present invention isXto provide-a yielding elastic foot rest for vehicles, particularly motor vehicles which are subject to a great amount of jar and shock, in order to increase the ease and comfort of travel in such vehicles. The greater part of the shock and jar which is felt by occupants of such vehicles is administered through their feet, and it is my object to diminish and destroy as far as possible the effects of the jarring by enabling the feet of the occupants to be yieldingly supported in such a way that the jolting, caused by un= even ground, is wholly, or in large measure,

absorbed.

The invention consists of a yieldinglysupported. foot-piece adapted to be applied to any vehicle and in any convenient position l Uf the accompanying drawings,Figure 1 represents a front elevation of a foot-rest embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same. Fig. 3 is a sectional view of the foot-rest. Figs. 4 and 5 repre sent two forms of spring employed in CO1]; nection with my foot-rest by which the resistance to yielding "of the foot supporti's increased as the movement of the foot-piece increases.

The same reference characters indicate the same parts in all the figures.

The complete flexible foot-rest consists of through the heads or caps on the lower ends of the casings and normally extend throughout nearly the entire length of the casings. On the end of each rod is a washer j and Specification of Letters iatent. Application filed August 16, 1909. SeriaI NTo. 512,997.

the straps.

by two or more persons.

Patented Oct. 13, 1914 thewasher and thelower end or cap 2' of the casing." Thus whenever, in consequence of jolting by the vehicle, additional pressure applied to the foot-rest, the rods are drawn downward and the springs com pressed, thus diminishing the shock to the .occupantof the vehicle. The spring is only one form of resilient element which maybe used to' absorb shocks. The washer 9' also forms a piston extending across the casing,

ONE-HALF TQ nut 70, the spring f contained between l and the imprisoned body ofair between the piston and lower head of the casing serves in part as the elastic shock absorber, sup

plernentingthe action of the spring. If desired, the washer may be made to bear on thewwalls of the' casing and the spring omitted. l g l The upper ends of the standards are provided with straps or collars J m within which the casings are held. Conveniently the straps may be made as. integral parts of the standards, and their ends engaged.

with bolts 7?. 0 passing through flanges on Wing nuts 79 q are threaded on these bolts, by means of which the rings may be clamped tightly about the casings, thus enabling the latterto be held at any convenient or desired height.

An important feature of my invention is the construction of the springs by which one foot-piece is-enabled to be used for giving resilience whenused by one as when used 7 In carrying into effect this feature ofthe invention the springs are made so as to yield with comyielding supportto the feet of one or more persons, and to have an approximately equal parative readiness to the initial movements 1 ofthe; foot-piece and to increasetheir resistanceto thesucceeding increments of mo tion of the foot-piece. Thus a spring which maybe strong enoughto give a resilient supporttothe feet of two or more persons will I also have a sufficient amount of resilience to give comfortable yielding support to the feet of only oneperson. Two forms of spring adapted for this purpose are illustratedirespectively in Figsiaancl 5. In the former figure, the spring f is made of the samelsize of wire throughout,but the coils spring as a whole has a conical form. At the same time, the convolutions are more at theitop are wound on a .cur vefof smaller 1 radius than those at the bottom, so that the 2 i p r 1,113,601

widely spread apart at the top than at the bottom, By this construction, when pressure is applied to the foot-piece, the upper coils are first compressed under a comparatively light pressure, while when the pres,- sure is increased, the lower coils are compressed and imparta continually increasing,

resistance. The amount of movement peri mitted by the" upper coil under a light thrust is sufiicient to give the requisite degree of resilience whenthe foot-rest is used by only one person, whilethe coils at the bottom giveystifinessenough to support the feet of two or more persons. a This furnishes a spring sufficiently stifi' to-absorb the shock when used-by a number of persons, and, at the same time is-not too stifi to afford comfort to; a single person.

In Fig'.,5,the spring shown is a compound one, consisting of a light spring f at the top joined to aiheavier and stiffer spring f at the-bottom; In this form of the invention the springsare Wound on the samediameter and are spread equally, but are made of stock of 'diiferent degrees of stiifness.

I claim :e p 1. A, foot rest comprising a pairof stand- I ards, casings secured rigidly to the upper ends of said standards and making an acute angle therewith, a spring ,contained in, each of said casings, a rod projecting from the lower end of each casing, movable end-Wise in andout of the same and engaged with end-wise with respect thereto, said rodsbeing so guided as to extend on adownward slant away from the vehicle seat, springsiso engaged wlth said holders and with the respective rods, as yieldingly to resist doWn-- ward-qmoveinent of the latter, and a foot piece hung from said rods.

' In testimony whereof I have aiiixed my 5 signature, in presence of two witnesses. w JOHN O. CALDWELLJR.

lVitnesses: r

J osnrrr SELIG, JOHN CALDWELL, Sr.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each,-by addressingthe Commissioner of .Patents,

Washington, no." 

